Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear (Wayward Children, #10) by Seanan McGuire

 Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear (Wayward Children, #10) by Seanan McGuire-147 pages

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Nadezhda (Nadya) grows up in an orphanage in Russia after her parents didn't want her. She was born with one arm only going to the elbow (so only one full arm). She finds a turtle near the orphanage and cares for it until it grows too big. One day, around age 9 she is finally adopted by an American couple named Carl and Pansy from Denver, Colorado. However, Carl and Pansy seem mostly to want Nadya as a kind of trophy to show off to their friends. They force her to learn English as a second language and learn very little Russian and only converse with her in English. A year after adopting her, they buy her a prosthetic arm for the one that ends at the elbow without asking Nadya whether she really wants it. She's lived this long without the full arm that she's grown accustomed to it and isn't sure. Mostly she's upset that they didn't even ask her what she wanted. One day while playing with turtles in the pond near her adoptive parents' home, she sees a turtle with Be Sure in Russian written on its shell. She's appalled that someone would hurt/desecrate a turtle and thinks she might see a door in the water, so she goes through it. Through the door is Belyyreka, the Land Beneath the Lake. She eventually comes to realize that this is her true home and never wants to leave. I liked this latest book in the Wayward Children series as I have liked all of the previous ones. It definitely causes the reader to think critically about identity, immigration, disability, and belonging. Just because one has only one full arm that doesn't make them any less nor does it mean they need a prosthetic arm to be "whole."